How did a bunch of men elected to office, both state and national, pronounce themselves to be the moral arbiters of women's reproductive rights?

Such thinking, followed by attempts to legislate that thinking into law, makes me wonder what on earth is happening to our beloved nation.

Maybe they really do believe that all men are created equal and women need not apply.

There was the "legitimate" rape remark by U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, who was defeated in his bid to replace U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill in Missouri. Recall that he said a woman does not conceive after a rape because her body won't let that happen. And this guy served on the U.S. House Committee on Science. This was followed by Indiana U.S. Senate candidate Richard Mourdock's statement that a pregnancy resulting as a consequence of rape is in God's plan. How does he purport to know God's plan?

But this is by no means the end of this nonsense. Here are some others:

1.) Sex education must not be taught in school to all those youngsters rife with hormones and curiosity. Why? Well, it is an invitation for them to become sexually active. Reality check: They will most likely become sexually active anyway, and it would be swell if they had the knowledge to guide them as the temptations and risks pile up.

2.) A number of these legislators have decided that when the egg is fertilized, that two-celled zygote is a person. The words "fetus" and "viable" are lost on them. I thought they were called politicians, but they seem to think of themselves as scientists or physicians.

3.) And then there are those who don't believe an abortion is justified even if there is rape, incest or a danger to the life of the mother. For their sakes, I hope their daughters or granddaughters never find themselves in such a situation.

4.) Some of these lawmakers would like to put an end to contraception as well as the right to an abortion. I wonder how many of their wives use contraceptives when they want to space the arrival of their children or feel the size of their family is adequate. There may even be a wife or two who doesn't want any, or any more, children, period. And then, for sheer wickedness, imagine if you will that a law is passed to prevent men from using condoms to prevent unwanted fatherhood.

5.) And, of course, this gang of representatives, senators, governors and many others in the GOP want to abolish Planned Parenthood, which would translate into hundreds of thousands of women, mostly low- or modest-income, losing their only source of health care screenings and family planning. Those women or girls who must or need to end a pregnancy use a service that constitutes only 5 percent of what the agency offers its users.

But the most outrageous consequence to all of this is that these very same lawmakers don't want to pay for all those babies born out of wedlock, many to young girls who have neither financial means nor a clue about how to care for a child. Some of them will be thrown out of their homes (if there was one to be thrown out of) because they got pregnant and disgraced the family. So these unprepared not-yet-adults are very likely to need government assistance. And the welfare, food stamp, medical care rolls climb with every unwanted and unnecessary birth. And guess who is going to pay for all this?

An urgent and logical question cries out to be answered: How do these people keep themselves from seeing the cause and effect here? As the expression goes, this is not rocket science.